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Iraq and Gertrude Bell's The Arab of Mesopotamia

"Gertrude Bell was one of a select group of Western Arabists who helped create the modern Middle East. She was arguably the single most influential individual in Iraq when, in the aftermath of World War I, the British attempted to create a nation out of regions that had long been different provinces of the Ottoman Empire. She was called upon to produce this succinct but insightful volume us a guide for the military officers and civil servants who were attempting to create an Iraqi government." "A long dispute over whether the volume was actually written by her is settled in Dr. Paul Rich's introduction. It not only is written by Bell, but the reader can see in what she chooses to emphasize just what her awn views are on the course that the development of Iraq should take."--Jacket.Read more...

Abstract:

To understand contemporary Iraq and the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, no book provides a surer guide or more unsettling experience, written as it was for another war, another army, and another time. Gertrude Bell for a fleeting moment was the optimistic progenitor of the Iraq that today is becoming unglued.Read more...

Reviews

Editorial reviews

Publisher Synopsis

Although these fascinating essays by a woman who played a key role in British empire-building in Mesopotamia were written in 1916 and 1917, their republication nearly a century later is remarkably timely, as Paul Rich shows in his introduction to the volume. In many ways, Bell might seem to be writing about the Bush administration's imperial misadventure at the beginning of the 21st century, when self-proclaimed liberators, like those who preceded them, soon found that they too were occupiers facing violent resistance. We see how little those living today learned from the past and how, at least in this case, history is being reenacted?in Marx's words?as farce... -- Glenn E. Perry, professor of political science at Indiana State University Bell's work is an important historical document and a work that deserves attention today...Rich has offered readers an important document and provided a passionate appeal in his introduction to it. Digest Of Middle East Studies, Spring 2009 Gertrude Bell, the British maker of Iraq, appreciated what was then Mesopotamia and the danger of military confrontation in that divided country. Her book and the introduction by Paul Rich should be a required reading for occupiers of present day Iraq and the policy makers in Washington and London. -- Mohammed M. Aman, editor-in-chief, Digest of Middle East Studies Although these fascinating essays by a woman who played a key role in British empire-building in Mesopotamia were written in 1916 and 1917, their republication nearly a century later is remarkably timely, as Paul Rich shows in his introduction to the volume. In many ways, Bell might seem to be writing about the Bush administration's imperial misadventure at the beginning of the 21st century, when self-proclaimed liberators, like those who preceded them, soon found that they too were occupiers facing violent resistance. We see how little those living today learned from the past and how, at least in this case, history is being reenacted-in Marx's words-as farce. -- Glenn E. Perry, professor of political science at Indiana State UniversityRead more...

""Gertrude Bell was one of a select group of Western Arabists who helped create the modern Middle East. She was arguably the single most influential individual in Iraq when, in the aftermath of World War I, the British attempted to create a nation out of regions that had long been different provinces of the Ottoman Empire. She was called upon to produce this succinct but insightful volume us a guide for the military officers and civil servants who were attempting to create an Iraqi government." "A long dispute over whether the volume was actually written by her is settled in Dr. Paul Rich's introduction. It not only is written by Bell, but the reader can see in what she chooses to emphasize just what her awn views are on the course that the development of Iraq should take."--Jacket."